1. Field
The present application relates to a waved implant integrating a soft tissue area and an osseous tissue area and, more particularly, to a waved implant integrating a soft tissue area and an osseous tissue area that prevents fine motion of an artificial tooth, keeps the implanted vicinities clean of infection and preserves the gingival shape of the natural teeth.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, one of the functions specific to teeth is grinding food so that it can be digested easily. People who lose their teeth cannot chew food to promote good digestion. Accordingly, such people cannot eat their fill and cannot take in nutrition sufficient for staying in good health.
If a permanent tooth, i.e. a tooth exchanged for a milk tooth in childhood, is lost, a further tooth will not grow and take its place. Accordingly, it is necessary to restore the masticatory function by rehabilitating the lost tooth and its surroundings via a prosthetic dental treatment.
However, general dental treatments may somewhat damage the neighboring teeth, gums and osseous tissues. Even wearing dentures comes with the drawbacks that it decreases the masticatory function and they are a foreign body which causes inconvenience, and the like, compared with the natural teeth.
One of the solutions proposed to compensate for the drawbacks of the general prosthetic treatment is artificial tooth transplantation. Artificial tooth transplantation can almost fully restore the entirety of functions and the appearance of the natural tooth.
As described above, the artificial tooth is gaining in popularity recently as an artificial substitute for the natural tooth.
As depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the artificial tooth comprises a fixture (artificial tooth root) 103, an abutment 105 and a process tooth 107. The fixture 103 for supporting the process tooth 107 is anchored to an alveolar bone 109 in the vicinity of the lost tooth, like a tooth root in a natural tooth. The abutment 105 put in the gum couples the fixture 103 and the process tooth 107. The process tooth 107 fixed on the abutment 105 in the mouth is designed to assume the same shape and provide the same function as the natural tooth.
Hereinafter, the process of transplanting an artificial tooth 101 to the space where the tooth was lost from will now be discussed.
The process of transplantation is roughly divided into a surgical operation and prosthetic rehabilitation.
Biocompatibility including a blood test, etc. is checked prior to the operation. The transplantation site is selected for the operation. An oral inspection, radiographic test, etc. are carried out in advance for evaluating the quality and quantity of osseous tissues at the transplantation site.
After a series of tests has been completed, the surgical operation is begun.
First, a primary operation is executed to transplant the fixture 103 corresponding to the tooth root of the natural tooth in the alveolar bone 109 under local anesthesia. Here, a gum 111 is excised to expose the alveolar bone 109. Then, the fixture 103 is inserted into the alveolar bone 109 and the gum 111 is sutured.
After a lapse of 3 to 6 months depending on the osseous tissue, a secondary operation is carried out.
The gum 111 sutured is excised again to put the abutment 105 on the upper end of the fixture 103. A connection screw 115 is inserted through an insertion hole 113 formed in the center of the abutment 105. The connection screw 115 is engaged with an engagement hole 117 formed in the center of the fixture 103, coaxial with the insertion hole 113, to fix the abutment 105 on the upper end of the fixture 103 in the gum 111. Like this, extruding the abutment 105 via the gum 111 in the mouth completes the secondary operation.
Subsequently, prosthetic treatment is performed.
First, a gold cylinder 121 is put coaxially on the upper end of the abutment 105. Here, an upper extrusion 119 of the connection screw 115 is inserted into a lower penetration hole 123 having a shape of a truncated cone in the gold cylinder 121. Then, the process tooth 107 is processed on the upper end of the gold cylinder 121 in a general manner. A gold screw 129 is inserted through a tooth hole 127 penetrating along with the centerline of the process tooth 107. By engaging the gold screw 129 with an engagement hole 125 penetrating the upper end of the extrusion 119 of the connection screw 115, the transplantation of the artificial tooth 101 is completed.
However, when applying the artificial tooth 101, for example, to a front tooth, as depicted in FIG. 3, the portion B other than the alveolar bone A, excised to anchor the implant 103 to the alveolar bone A, does not have a supporter for adhering to, differently from the vicinity C of the fixture 103. Accordingly, the alveolar bone B may be resorbed as time goes by and the gum 111 may be involuted.
The involution of the gum 111 has the following problems:
First, it widens the space between the artificial tooth and the gums or the space between the artificial tooth and the alveolar bone, which shortens the durability of the artificial tooth; and second, it widens the space between the artificial tooth and the gums or the space between the artificial tooth and the alveolar bone, which allows bacteria to infiltrate the space, thus causing an odor in and from the mouth and oral diseases.